Hi, my name is Sharon Foley.

Although I have admired horses all my life, and rode a few times through the years of my youth, I never really learned to ride until I was in my late 20's.

I decided one day that I wanted to take riding lessons. It was something I'd always wanted to do but never had the chance to pursue. So I called a stable located near my house, asked if they gave lessons and that was the beginning.

It so happened that the stable I called was a well known hunter/jumper barn and so that was my formal introduction to riding. If you haven't fallen off in the first five lessons you start jumping!

After about a year I was so hooked, I was taking 3 lessons a week at different barns. I decided that I needed a horse of my own. So I purchased a TB named Royal Pet. This was probably the worst possible choice for a beginner adult with a first horse but what did I know?

As luck would have it the barn I finally selected to board the horse was more oriented toward dressage than hunters. And it was there that I discovered it was dressage that truly interested me. I stuck with Pet for 5 years but eventually had to accept that I needed to move on.

For my next horse I thought the ideal was a gelding, 8-10 years old, schooling 2nd level, bay with chrome please. Unfortunately I did not have the budget for that ideal. After shopping for many months I chose Tulsa. A 4 year old, barely steering Anglo-Trakehner mare. What was I thinking?

While one could say that this too was not an ideal choice the fact remains that this particular horse put me on the critical path to where I am now. If it were not for her quirky sensitivity I might not have been so compelled to take the road less travelled. But now having done so I can say that I owe quite a bit to this little mare who made me examine and re-examine my skills, knowledge, and goals time and time again.

While I never did get to "accomplish" everything I would have like to with Tulsa many horses have benefited from the lessons I learned from and through her. Today as a school mistress she is my most valued teaching partner.

My current riding partner is Danke, a Hann/TB chestnut mare. Miss Danke has written a whole new chapter for me about working with sensitive mares. What I have learned from this horse is beyond measure and I enjoy learning from her every day.

The most important thing I have learned is that every horse appreciates being ridden like a sensitive mare. You just need to be willing to take the time it takes.

I am a person who loves to learn. I have never been one to follow the crowd and so I have been free to explore all the nooks and crannies of the horseman's art. I am also not one to build fences. I prefer to build bridges. Where others see "Us" and "Them" I see Common Ground.

And so this is how I have managed to develop a personal approach that integrates classical dressage, natural horsemanship, and clicker training. I call this approach simply, "Getting to Yes". It is about building trust, quiet listening, communication, clarity, consistency, and most of all taking the time to reward, reward, reward.

I want to help you Get to Yes with Your Horse through positive horsemanship and riding. My goal is to instill in people the skills and ability they need to develop happy productive relationships with their horses no matter what their discipline. I have a particularly soft spot for those extra sensitive horses who get a bad rap as a result.

As a dressage rider I have discovered that you get more, with less sweat, by continuously perfecting the small pieces of the puzzle: understand the horse, the goals, develop the seat, feel, timing. The old adage, less is more is true. This is not a new idea that I made up. It is in fact the secret to great training as passed down by the great masters.

In a world dominated by competitive struggle these secrets seem to be lost for too many horses and riders. I seek to inspire everyone to discover how to 'get to yes' with the horse they have right now by breaking things down into achievable steps and rewarding the behavior you want.

Sharon (contact me!)